


Long Term Assignment

by ifreet



Category: due South
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-02
Updated: 2006-06-02
Packaged: 2017-10-14 22:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/154140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifreet/pseuds/ifreet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for ds_flashfiction's Undercover challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Term Assignment

Stella loved Ray. She still loved Ray, even after the divorce. There were days, though, that she didn't like him very much. He was too stubborn. He was too impulsive. He just didn't _think_.

"I'm just looking out for you. I worry about you."

"Well, don't," she said. End of conversation.

"I can't help it." She started to walk away. The short, staccato steps she blamed entirely on her new heels; he was _not_ getting to her. "Stella, you're my _wife_."

"Ex-wife," she snapped back. The heads turning in the bullpen told her exactly how loud they'd gotten. Again.

Too late to do anything but brazen it out. She strode through the station, through the visitors parking lot, to the relative privacy of her car. Only there did she allow herself to close her eyes, pinch the bridge of her nose, let her frustration out in a long exhalation. They knew better. They both knew better, and yet she'd still found herself arguing with Ray in public -- worse, right in the police station -- when she knew and he knew that they weren't even supposed to know each other. He was supposed to be Ray Vecchio. And Ray Vecchio and Stella Kowalski had nothing but a few recent cases in common.

But Ray would see her, and he'd have to talk to her, and she'd think, 'We're both adults. Just this once.' And within two sentences he'd be hitting her buttons. She had tried to stop talking to him, unless it were about work.

But it was already too late for that. She could acknowledge that to herself, if not to Ray.

Everyone knew Vecchio was a detective at the 27th. Everyone knew Vecchio had an unofficial partnership with, of all people, a Mountie. Everyone knew he (had) had a Buick Riv. Everyone knew he had a sister Maria and a sister Francesca. And by now, everyone knew Vecchio had an ex-wife named Stella Kowalski.

Stella opened her eyes and started the engine. When Ray Vecchio, the real Ray Vecchio, came back, she already knew what she'd have to do. Because Stella loved Ray. She still loved Ray, no matter how bad they were for each other.

But days like today, she didn't like him very much.

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I usually abide by my writing group's advice to "never apologize" when presenting, but... baby's first fanfic, or near enough as makes no odds, re-posted here for completeness. Be gentle.


End file.
